Vacationing in the Pocono Mountains

Besides shopping at the Crossings in Tannersville and trying new restaurants, my favorite activity is skiing! There are plenty of ski areas in the Pocono Mountains. My favorite is Camelback in Tannersville (www.skicamelback.com) that has a great view from the top of the mountain. The conditions are always good and there are plenty of trails to choose from.

For those that like flea markets, The Pocono Bazaar Flea Market is held each Saturday and Sunday from 9am-5pm. Great bargains! (www.poconobazaar.com)

The Fall is a great season to enjoy the fall foliage and the weather can surprise you. My husband and I were up there one year and it was 80 degrees in October. We went to Big Pocono Mountain and had a gorgeous view of Tannersville and the foliage.

Shawnee hosts their yearly Balloon Festival in October with plenty of hot air balloons. It's a huge event and there are other activities on site for the family to enjoy. (click here)

Winter is wonderful for skiing and other winter sports. The best time to go skiing is during the week when most people are working and the children are in school.

Great place to visit and plenty to do for everyone!

Quick Tips:

Whenever you plan on visiting the Poconos, make your reservations ahead of time since the resorts/hotels book up quickly during the entire year.

For more information on the Pocono Mountains, you can visit their web site: www.800poconos.com. This site will provide you with all the information you need to plan your weekend getaway or vacation. This site has been extremely helpful and provides plenty of information and other web sites to check out.

Best Way To Get Around:

If you would like to tour the Pocono Mountains you will definitely need a car. Some timeshare resorts will offer a shuttle to the ski areas. There is some public transportation but you are better off having your own vehicle.

Best Things Nearby:
You are less than a minute drive from the Camelback Ski Area. The Crossings (outlet shopping center) is five minutes away. Great restaurants close by, good shopping, close to main roads, and a very nice area to visit.

Best Things About the Resort:


Resort Experience:
My husband and I exchanged a week into Ski Side Village. The unit that we were assigned to was a townhouse that slept eight people (six private) and had three levels. The bottom level consisted of two bedrooms, whirlpool, sauna, washer/dryer, full bathroom, closet to store luggage, etc. The main level consisted of a full kitchen, combination dining room/living room with fireplace, large window,s and balcony. The upper level (loft) consisted of a bedroom with a full bathroom that overlooked the living room. The unit was very spacious and we had a nice view of Camelback Mountain.

Normally I don't criticize timeshares, but in all truthfulness I have to be honest with this one. The unit was in poor condition (at least ours was) and we were extremely unhappy with it. The furniture was not in the greatest condition (sofa sagged, chips of wood out of the dining room chairs, wicker was damaged on the chairs/ottoman). There were spiders downstairs, cobwebs by some of the light fixtures/closets, carpet was dirty/worn, stairs creaked, shade in master bedroom didn't go down all the way, sheets kept coming off the bed, stains on the mattress and spare blanket, comforter in bedrooms seemed dirty/old, dirt on the baseboard in the bathrooms, wall heater didn't work in the whirlpool room, mismatched/old furniture, some furniture was dusty, etc. The unit needed to be remodeled since everything was old or worn out in one way or another. You couldn't feel clean nor comfortable in a unit like this, but we did manage to make the best of it for a week.

When we returned from our vacation, I wrote a letter to RCI in regard to our unit and they compensated us, which we greatly appreciated. They apologized for our inconvenience and planned on contacting the resort to investigate this matter further.

My advice to those exchanging into other timeshares that you are not familiar with is to check the unit thoroughly before unpacking. If the unit is in unsatisfactory condition, see if you can switch to another unit or contact RCI and ask the representative if you can be moved to another timeshare nearby. Also check out RCI Community to see if there are any journals regarding the resort that you are interested in staying at. I found this to be extremely helpful and very informative!

• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom
• Activities: Not Available
• Amenities: Fair
• Unit Satisfaction: Poor
• Family Friendliness: Fair
• Service: Fair

Best Things Nearby:
You are approximately 15 minutes from Shawnee Ski Area that provides good skiing/snow tubing. The Pocono Bazaar Flea Market is nearby along with some decent shopping/restaurants. Bushkill Falls is approximately 15 minutes away and is worth going. Beautiful water falls and nice trails to walk on. Tannersville is 30 minutes away that consists of good shopping, restaurants, skiing, parks, etc.

Best Things About the Resort:
Property is very nice and there are plenty of amenities for the entire family. On-site amenities include: Children's Pool ~ Game Room ~ Golf ~ Health Club ~ Horseback Riding ~ Lake ~ Live Entertainment ~ Miscellaneous Activities for Children ~ Playground ~ Restaurant ~ Sauna ~ Snack Bar ~ Indoor/Outdoor Pool ~ Tennis ~ Whirlpool/Hot Tub ~ Tiny Ski Area ~ Tiny Snow Tubing Area.

Resort Experience:
My husband and I exchanged a week into The Villas at Tree Tops and stayed there twice. We stayed in February 1999 and February 2001 since I like to ski in the Poconos. Our first visit to Tree Tops was in the new section and the units were gorgeous!

The building we were in was sub-divided into two separate units. If you are vacationing with friends or relatives you will have more privacy. The downstairs unit consisted of a large bathroom with a whirlpool, shower stall and double sinks. The room itself had a combination of a queen size bed, sofa, table with four chairs, mini kitchen and a deck. Outside of that unit was a washer/dryer. The unit on the main floor is the larger unit, which included a full kitchen, dining room, living room, fireplace, half bathroom and balcony off of the dining room. Upstairs was the master bedroom and full bathroom. The furniture was in immaculate condition and the unit was gorgeous! We loved it! We had friends stay with us for a few days and it worked out really well.

The second time we stayed at Tree Tops, we ended up in the old section that we were not pleased with. Huge difference from the new section! When you walk in the unit you either go downstairs or upstairs. Downstairs consisted of two bedrooms and two full bathrooms. One bathroom had a whirlpool in it. Both bedrooms had a deck off of it overlooking the lake. Upstairs had a full kitchen, combination living room/dining room and fireplace. There was a spiral staircase that led to a loft with a bed. The unit was in okay condition but not the greatest. The sliding glass doors in both bedrooms leaked and being there in February, it was cold! The heat didn't work well so downstairs was always cold and upstairs was always hot. The bedroom furniture was mismatched/old and some of the drawers would fall out if you pulled it out too far. The front door leaked as well which didn't help. The living room/dining room furniture was in decent condition. Most of the kitchen drawers would fall out if you opened them too far. Having both bathrooms downstairs was a nuisance. We were definitely disappointed with the unit.

If you plan on exchanging into Tree Tops, request for the new section since the units are modern and are built better. Apparently, the old section was supposed to be remodeled/repaired but not certain if that ever took place.

• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom
• Activities: Very Good
• Amenities: Very Good
• Unit Satisfaction: Very Good
• Family Friendliness: Very Good
• Service: Very Good

BEER - FOOD - FUN!!! That's what Barley Creek Brewing Company will offer you. The brewery is located on the corner of Sullivan Trail and Camelback Road between Camelback Ski Area and the Crossings retail outlet center.

After a day of skiing/snowboarding, this is a great place to hang out with your friends, meet up with some really cool people and celebrate a great day on the slopes. Have a few beers, get something to eat, hang out and party.

For those of you that aren't into winter sports and prefer to shop at the retail outlets, well this place is for you too! Celebrate your new purchases with your shopping mate(s), take a load of your feet and relax! Carrying all those heavy bags can make you very hungry and thirsty!

My husband and I are very fond of beer and enjoy going to breweries to try out their special brews. This place is great and the beers are awesome. If you would like a free brewery tour, they are offered during the week at 12:30pm.

The building is very impressive and features post-and-beam timber frame design. The timbers are 90 years old and recycled. Their ten-barrel brewhouse features a copper-topped, crick encased brewkettle, a mash tun, 360-galleon hot liquor back and a grist mill. They also have two 10bbl lager fermentation vessals, four open fermentation tanks, eight beer-conditioning tanks and Firkins for cask conditioning brews. You can see the majority of this from the bar, Fermentation Lounge and game room.

The dining room itself is moderately large, nice atmosphere and can accommodate a great deal of people. For those that prefer to hang outside on a nice day, they have a deck for you to catch some rays and enjoy the surrounding scenery. During the winter months, the deck is closed off and heated. This room is also used for private functions.

The food is great and always enjoyed eating there. The restaurant offers pub fare and dinner entrees. Prices are reasonable and the service is good.

They are open every day at 11:01am (yes, that's what the sign says) and dinner is served until 10pm. On Friday and Saturday, dinner is served until 11pm.

If you are not a beer fan, Barley Creek has a full service bar with cocktails, specialty drinks and wine.

Barley Creek has entertainment during the weekends and the bands that play there are really talented and bring in a good crowd.

Best time to go is during the week since most people are working. If you go on the weekend, try to go between lunch and dinner so you don't have to wait too long for a seat at the bar or for a table. Barley Creek draws in a huge crowd and on a nice weekend, this place is packed!

If you like more information, visit their web site: www.barleycreek.com. Their web site lists the current beers being brewed, entertainment, menus, directions, etc.

Go have a few beers and enjoy!

Camelback is a great place to ski at. Every time I have gone there, the conditions were great, trails were well maintained and the lodge was always clean. The view from the top of the mountain is really pleasant and offers a great view of Tannersville and the surrounding area.

The ski area offers the following: 33 trails ~ 13 lifts ~ 2 terrain parks ~ night skiing ~ 100% snowmaking ~ kids programs ~ nursery ~ ski/snowboard/snowblade rentals ~ ski school ~ ski shop ~ ski repair ~ bar ~ several cafeterias ~ pizza bar ~ snowtubing.

Miscellaneous information: 800 vertical feet ~ all trails are lighted for night skiing ~ 15% expert trails ~ 24% intermediate trails ~ 54% novice trails ~ 7% beginner trails ~ 2 high-speed detachable quad chairlifts ~ 3 triple chairs ~ 7 double chairlifts ~ 1 sunkid surface lift ~ uphill capacity is 18,600 persons per hour.

Hey guys this is for you… if you take the Stevenson Express chairlift (quad) you will get a great thrill of the ladies underwear tree! That's right, a tree with ladies underwear (I think it's more toward college girls/teenagers…). Maybe Victoria Secret should advertise on there as well! I don't think the tree is cleaned up every year so the underwear is probably still there. It was definitely amusing seeing that and some of the underwear was pretty wild!

If you like more information on Camelback ski area, you can visit their web site at www.skicamelback.com. The site will provide you with all the information you will need including nearby lodging, restaurants and shopping. It will also provide information on Camelbeach Waterpark, summer day camp for kids, etc.